


No Matter What Happens Tomorrow

by ajremix



Series: Praying for the End of Time [2]
Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Fix-It, M/M, groundhog day fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-13
Updated: 2016-10-13
Packaged: 2018-08-22 04:24:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 17,603
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8272751
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ajremix/pseuds/ajremix
Summary: Len felt his mouth go dry.  "You remember that Bill Murray movie?  Where he re-lives the same day over and over again?  Is something like that possible?"
Mick looked more intensely serious than Len could recall in years.  "You telling me you're going through a Groundhog Day Loop?"
"Is that the technical term?"





	

Loop 2

Len didn't so much wake up as it was he was slammed into consciousness. His head hurt, his ears were ringing, body numb and tingling all at once. He blinked rapidly, trying to move his head to clear out the afterimages burned into his vision.

"Mr. Snart," Gideon's shockingly familiar voice said, "please refrain from moving until treatment is complete."

"What treatment?" His throat felt sore, like something burned out in his lung. "What happened?"

"Vandal Savage incapacitated you, Mr. Rory and-"

"I'm not talking about Savage, I'm talking about the Oculus." He rolled of the medbay's spare bed that was normally kept hidden in the wall, wincing to himself. Even his joints ached.

"My records contain no information of an Oculus."

Len opened his mouth to snap at her but paused as he saw Mick on another bed, seemingly unconscious. Len strode over to him quickly, pulling off a glove to feel for a pulse. He felt it immediately, beating strong. Len let out a breath he hadn't realized he held. "What happened to my partner?"

"Vandal Savage incapacitated-"

"Why are you talking about Savage? The Time Masters already let him go!"

"Vandal Savage is currently in the hold awaiting trial."

Len sucked in a breath, going to the nearest view screen. "Show me." The security feed popped up and there, bearing the marks of his failed escape, was Savage. "What the hell is going on?"

"I do not understand the question."

"Why is he here? Why am _I_ here-"

"Why are you yelling?" Len whirled around to find Mick propping himself up on one elbow, growling and grumbling. He'd always been a terrible patient. "I got a splitting headache as it is, stop making it worse."

Len took a deep breath through his nose. First thing's first- he needed to know exactly what was going on now so he could figure out how it related to what he last remembered. "Gideon, where and when are we?"

"We have arrived at the Vanishing Point. The Time Masters have taken over navigation and are guiding us to the hangars. We will arrive in forty-three minutes."

Okay. He remembered that very distinctly. Which would put his first thought into somehow managing to jump back in time. Given all the other jumping through time he'd done recently, it probably wasn't that much of a stretch. "Mick, what's the last thing you remember?"

"Haircut being a fucking moron."

"That's not new, be more specific."

"He tried fighting Savage hand-to-hand."

Len hummed to himself, hypothesis already forming. He was going to have to figure out some way to probe the others' memory, but he'd bet no one else remembered the Oculus. Presumably- _hopefully_ -because they hadn't been caught up in the blast.

"Why?" Mick groaned as he pushed himself upright. Then he took one look at Len and his shoulders went back, jaw set and brow lowered. All the little shifts he did whenever he was ready to hunt down whatever was bothering Len and make it pay. Len's breath caught for a moment. "What's going on?" Mick all but growled. "You still got that Alexa feeling?"

"Not quite. It's more like an extreme case of deja vu."

His eyes narrowed. "You serious?"

That threw Len for a moment. "Is there a problem with that?"

"Deja vu isn't a psychological thing, it's reliving an event after the timeline's been restored after a change." Mick crossed his arms, looking somewhat disturbed. "The bigger the difference between original and changed actions, the greater the sense of deja vu once you're back to your original action. But that kinda thing isn't possible here, the Vanishing Point is outside the standard rules of time."

Len felt his mouth go dry. "You remember that Bill Murray movie? Where he re-lives the same day over and over again? Is something like that possible?"

Mick looked more intensely serious than Len could recall in _years_. "You telling me you're going through a Groundhog Day Loop?"

"Is that the technical term?" He couldn't help quipping.

Mick ignored him like he'd done for decades. "Something like that takes a massive amount of chronol energy. Not to mention what needs to be done to the timeline itself to make it malleable enough for it. Which makes it even _more_ impossible in the Vanishing Point because it'd have to contend with all that chronal energy already flying around here."

Maybe not if there was something that could manipulate time itself. Len briefly wondered if everyone caught in that explosion would go through that loop or if it was just him, being the only one in direct contact with the Oculus. He certainly hoped it would be the latter otherwise things were about to get a lot more difficult.

"Snart." Len lifted his head, somewhat startled out of his thoughts. "What do you remember?"

He wondered how much he should say. Mick obviously believed him, but how much would telling actually help? Jax was already gone, the ship already damaged and everyone already caught in the Time Master's tractor beam. He didn't know if he had enough information to stop Savage from taking off with Kendra- and Carter, he supposed -and he already knew everyone but himself would make it out okay. He had faith the rest of the team managed to save the birds and the world- because if they didn't he was going to kill them all for wasting his sacrifice -so the only thing that needed changing was his supposed death. Which he also didn't have enough information to prevent.

So he lied. "Like remembering a dream. Bits and pieces, mostly feelings." From the expression on his face, Mick obviously didn't believe him. Thank God for all the occasionally hard learned experience that Len didn't appreciate being pushed for answers. "What would it take to stop it from happening?"

"Depends on what's causing it. In any case there'd have to be a massive temporal shift."

Translation: the Oculus explosion caused it and the lack of Oculus explosion would keep it from happening. Well, this had to be the biggest fuck you situation Len had ever been in.

"Is this something we gotta worry about, Snart?"

Len shivered. Because the Mick that was asking was the Mick he'd been partners with for most of his life. The Mick that would have his back against any threat, no matter how vague or overwhelming. "No," he said, ignoring the way it felt when Len had snuck in to free the others and saw Mick in his Chronos armor once more. "Not yet, at least."

"Snart-"

"Can't really plan if I don't actually know what the problem is." He dodged around Mick, heading for the door. "I'll be giving it lots of serious thought, don't you worry about it."

If this really was a Groundhog Day Loop activated by the Oculus, that was going to end up being the understatement of Len's entire life.

~*~*~*~

Len peeked out from the hatch before exiting, Sara following after. "How did you even know that was down there?"

"Cased every inch of the tub when we first got on. Surprised you didn't."

She gave him a wry look. "Not everyone is looking for a place to stash possible loot."

"Your loss." His words lacked their usual playfulness when they bantered. Instead Len couldn't stop the thoughts in his head. He remembered writing the others as a loss, wanting to cut and run and it had been genuine. After all, what could the two of them do with next to no intel against the Time Master's stronghold and Gideon gone? But he knew what their rescue plan would be and he knew it would work. Would he be able to speed up Gideon re-gaining control? Would it make any sort of difference? Would they make it before any of their teammates were taken away? Would it be better to continue to let things happen like they did before just to make sure this hypothesis was right?

"Hey."

Len startled, balanced on the balls of his feet and looking at Sara like a cat ready to bolt. She just gave him a sympathetic look, head tilted slightly in quiet understanding. "He'll be okay."

He bristled and looked away. "Is there only one person we care about?"

"Only one _you_ care about. I haven't forgotten how pissy you got during the whole Russia thing." Sara smirked, "But if you want to be an emotionally stunted man about it, fine. They'll _all_ be okay because we're going to save them."

"I know." He did, literally, and that may have been the problem. For the first time Len felt like he knew _too_ much, all that knowledge binding him because he couldn't figure out how to use it.

A trial run, he decided. This will be a trial run and either he'll loop back with a little more insight as to what could be done or he'll die as he originally intended.

In Rip's office, the phone rang.

Just as before, placing Gideon's traps had been a cinch. After that was the waiting game, just as drawn out and dull as Len remembered. Len tapped his finger against the step, beating out seconds as he kept time in his head.

Sara looked at him, brow furrowing. "What happened to your ring?"

Len snatched his hand back, staring at the empty stretch of skin on his pinkie. His ring was gone. He remembered clearly the weight and feel of it right before the explosion and then, like a fading memory, giving it to Mick. It may have taken him a beat too long to recover from the realization but Sara, thankfully, didn't call him out on it. "Not every day requires a fashion statement."

"And is that why you wore it?" She asked, stepping out into the bridge. "To be fashionable?"

Like before he recounted the Freeport job. A somewhat more distracted and less detailed retelling as he tried to keep from looking at his hand. If his ring was gone, did that mean this _wasn't_ a Groundhog Day Loop? Did that vague memory happen? Was Len outside of time now, rendering any attempt to affect what happens after the explosion meaningless? Too many questions, no way to get answers.

Sara was watching him carefully now as his responses got vaguer and possibly less coherent. Len could feel his thoughts sucking him in, could feel the spiral in his head like a gravitational pull. No no no, he couldn't do this. Not now. He needed to be clearheaded and focused. If he wasn't and things didn't go how they were supposed to, he might be stuck here for good.

Not that sacrificing himself was that great an alternative but at least he got to take out the majority of an oppressive authority while he was at it. Minor victories.

Trial run, he reminded himself. Take events as they come. Think only about immediate next steps.

And that was what Len did. From sneaking into the cells to facing Mick to escaping back aboard the _Waverider_ , Len just thought about what had to be done next. When the existence of the Oculus was revealed, coupled with the conversation had earlier, Mick began eying Len suspiciously. Good thing Len already accounted for that. Once everyone broke off to do whatever, Len hung in Sara's doorway, shaking a deck of cards.

"Not in the mood."

For a moment, seeing her lying there with the memory of their first last encounter in his head, Len felt words getting caught in his throat. He looked away and said, "Still pretty sure I'm better company than your thoughts."

She sat up, looking annoyed. "Doesn't what Rip said bother you? Nothing we've done our whole lives have been without the Time Masters' permission. And every time we did something they didn't want us to, they forced us to act differently. _They_ made me go on that ship. It was because of _them_ I became an Assassin."

Len went over to lean against her bed. Emotions had never been something he was good at dealing with- his own or others -but he liked Sara enough to make an attempt. "Does it make that much of a difference if it'd been all you? Or would you prefer some anonymous, invisible force like 'fate'?"

"It's one thing to ruin your life by accident," she snapped. "It's something else for someone deliberately ruining it for you. If it weren't for the Time Masters, your dad might not've been a massive asshole, did you think about that?"

"I had, actually." A brief flicker of thought that he immediately pushed away because he very much didn't want to dwell on it. "Then I remembered if he hadn't been such a massive asshole, I wouldn't have met Mick and I wouldn't trade that no matter who was pulling the strings."

She stared at him, trying to gauge whatever it was she saw in his face. "They planned to turn him into Chronos from the start."

"And I plan on making them pay for that. And for all the scars they've given us." His right hand clenched, teeth bared for a moment. "The best way to do that would be to blow up the Oculus. The ultimate irony: destroyed by their own puppets."

Sara huffed. "Guess I could get behind that. Then we'll go after Savage, he won't have the Time Masters as backup anymore. Then after... what? We go our separate ways?"

"Who knows. Myself, I figure I'd pull off a quick heist, something that'll net me enough to go on a nice vacation- I'm pretty sure we've all earned it at this point. Maybe an empty beach with a sexy blonde in increasingly skimpy outfits."

Sara snorted, clearly taking it as a joke. It was, mostly, but Len certainly wouldn't have turned her down if she agreed. "I've been wondering- is this how you normally flirt? Because you always sound like a snake-oil salesman."

Len nearly said all his pick-up attempts he learned from Mick. Which was true but Mick also had nearly triple Len's success rate. Mick told him once it was because, as pretty as Len was, people could tell when he really couldn't hold up a conversation without defaulting to sarcastic jackass. On a job or casing a place, he could bullshit his way through anything, but in a completely civilian setting, he had no idea what to say if he didn't do some research on a person beforehand. Mick always found that _hilarious_.

Given how Sara had been pushing him to make amends with the man, she'd only see that tidbit as additional ammo. "I suppose since you're asking, it's not working."

She snorted again, laughter trailing the noise. "Makes me wonder how you managed to hook Vostok."

"Maybe she likes it a little bit nasty."

She laughed for real, "Keep that up and I'm going to need to take a shower to get rid of all this grease you're spewing." Len opened his mouth and she shoved him toward the door. " _Without_ you!"

He chuckled taking a few steps out before stopping. "I do have a favor to ask, though."

Sara raised her eyebrows, "If you're going to ask me to wear skimpy outfits, keep in mind I'm still not fond of beaches or oceans in general."

Len's lips quirked slightly. "Fair enough. I'll remember that next time we have this conversation. This favor, however, is a bit more immediate."

"Alright. Let's hear it."

"Keep Mick from doing something stupid, like running in when he shouldn't."

Sara narrowed her eyes at him, already seeing the favor was bullshit. "Why?" She asked, crossing her arms. "Because you already plan on doing something stupid?"

"From a certain point of view, yes. But the only way he can stop me is if he does it himself." He gave her an intense look. "Which he won't because I asked you to stop him first."

She drummed her fingers against her arm, lips pressed tightly together. Eventually she asked, "Is there no other way?"

"I suppose someone else can do it, but if you're asking if there's a way other than that, I haven't figured one out yet."

"But you might?"

If the Oculus really was making him loop then Len supposed he had indefinite time to find out. "We'll see."

At the Oculus itself, Len weaseled his way into staying with Rip and Ray, laying down an absolute zero field to stop the guards when they finally arrived. He knocked out Ray, sent Rip off and iced the door after him. Then Len held down the trigger. If he listened, very hard, he could fool himself into believing he heard Mick roaring on the other side.

He took a deep breath and shut his eyes.

~*~*~*~

Loop 3

Len's eyes shot open, recognizing the medbay immediately. He twisted, wincing at the aches in his body and saw Mick unconscious nearby. "Mr. Snart," Gideon said, "please refrain from moving until treatment is complete."

"What happened?" He croaked. Len was fairly certain all the pain he was feeling was from the Oculus explosion and not from Savage.

"Vandal Savage incapacitated you, Mr. Rory and Dr. Palmer."

He grunted and settled back in his bed. So it was a Groundhog Day Loop. Now that Len knew that for certain, he could plan.

~*~*~*~

Loop 5

By now Len had figured out what parts of the routine he could short cut around. Mostly verbal that cut arguments short or got plans moving faster. It was actually kind of fun in a way, rebuking someone before they had a chance to respond or stealing their thunder by getting in the big reveals. It also seemed to make Mick more aggravated than normal. Len didn't give it much thought, thinking about what all it actually accomplished was getting him to reset the loop quicker. He was going to have to do some more planning.

Len paused in the hall. Mick was standing in Sara's doorway. This was... totally different. "Not interrupting anything, am I?" He drawled, tapping the card deck against his leg.

Mick scowled at him before grunting out, "Blondie," and leaving.

Len took up the vacated doorway, leaning against it. "I'm not going to have to be jealous, am I?"

Sara kicked up her feet, laying back on her bed. "Mick's right- you're especially insufferable today."

This was also completely different. "What brought this on?"

"You mean asides from the way you've been acting like you know everything that's going on?" To be fair, he did. "All your little pointed comments trying to get us to do certain things, talking like everything that happened was obvious. Rip's already deep in self-loathing and Ray's too much an optimist to see it, be me and Mick do. Neither of us like knowing the Time Masters have been forcing us along their plan our entire lives, we sure as hell don't appreciate feeling like one of our friends is pulling our strings on top of that."

"I wasn't-"

She sat up again, looking more angry than annoyed. "Yeah, you were. Talking about how Stein will be okay once Jax returns, even though Stein told us it'd be a one-way trip for him. Saying how the Oculus needed to be blown up while the rest of us were still trying to wrap our brains around the fact it evens exists. Or that you knew Mick wouldn't turn back into Chronos so there was no point worrying about it. All day it feels like you've been doing everything you could to make the rest of us feel ignorant!"

Len shifted uneasily, feeling his lack of social skills rendering him impotent. Rip and Ray and Stein... they didn't exactly not matter but their opinion of him wasn't anything he lost sleep over. Sara had been a surprise, someone he'd liked and respected and he'd hate to lose her because of his ego and Mick was a whole bundle of complicated feelings. Mick didn't really care who thought he was stupid, but he couldn't stand Len making him feel dumb. Hell, _Len_ hated when something made Mick feel dumb. He should find Mick, say... no. It wouldn't matter. When the loop reset it'll be a clean slate again. Relatively speaking.

"What? Nothing to say for yourself?"

"Maybe I'll come back when you're a little more receptive to conversation."

"Would this future conversation include an apology and possibly an explanation?" He hesitated too long, too off balance by the conversation to think of a reply. Sara slid down from her bed and stalked up close to him, glaring into Len's eyes. "Even before I knew about the Oculus, I've had too many people in my life thinking they could get away with manipulating my relationships. You want to start something with me, try using a little sincerity." She stalked passed him, down the same way Mick had gone. Len stood in her door, trying to figure out exactly how he managed to fuck this up.

~*~*~*~

Len barely paid attention to the guards around him, had already memorized their patterns of movement as he watched Sara's back. He was more than ready for this loop to end, already planning how change things up the next time around, waiting for his cue to take over the trigger when Rip came out. Followed by Mick.

Len stared. "Where's Raymond?"

"He has elected to stay behind."

"You _let_ him?"

The three were taken aback though none so much as Mick who got the brunt of Len's accusation. "He wants to make the heroic sacrifice, let 'em."

Len... didn't know what to say to that. He hadn't know this was possible, hadn't even considered it could be and for a horrified moment, Len wondered if he was the reason for the change. He shook his head- no, he'd have time to think about it later, he needed to get into the Oculus _now_ and take Ray's place or the scientist might be the one stuck in the loop. And if the next Len forgot everything he'd gone through, he'd have no way to make sure Ray could keep it going.

He brushed passed Rip and Mick, Sara following closely, just as she'd done before. "Hey!" Mick called out, "What're you doing, Snart?"

"Just worry about your own skin, Rory," he snapped back. Len didn't know why he felt so betrayed by this. This all started because he couldn't let Mick make that sacrifice so he should've been happy the man finally got some damn self-preservation.

But he'd known Mick to be incredibly loyal and compassionate to the few he let in close enough. They were traits Len had valued and admired greatly in their time together and to see it tossed aside when he'd been expecting otherwise...

Ray gaped as the two stormed in. "What are you doing here? The Oculus is going to blow! Didn't Rip tell you? I have to-"

"Shut up, don't care." Without preamble, Len went right up to him and slammed the butt of his gun into the side of Ray's head.

"Was that really necessary?" Sara asked.

"Yes." He hit the shrinking mechanism for Ray's suit- why there was such an easily accessible one on the exterior of the suit, Len didn't know -and tossed the tiny man at Sara. She caught him without barely looking at him. "Get out of here."

"But-"

" _Go_." He snapped, just wanting the loop over with so he had time to analyze it. He didn't even feel miffed that he didn't get his kiss this time around.

~*~*~*~

Loop 8

Things were already starting to wear down on Len. The loop was such a small span of time, just a few hours with limited opportunities to change things and too many variables and unknowns. Len made a mental note to himself to have Ray talk through his sabotage next time, Len might learn something useful from it. He was also careful to watch what he said around Mick, still not certain what might have set him off three loops ago. Maybe it wasn't even something Len did. Maybe they didn't follow a script, just a vague outline and were still capable of making choices independently of the ones made before.

The only one that might know the answer to that was, of course, Mick. Len got him back onto the topic of Groundhog Day Loops again much the same way it happened the first time. He asked, "You been through them before?"

"Nah. Probably drive me nuts. Rare phenomena, damn near impossible to recreate. From the reports I read, destabilizing a loop is easy, just gotta get enough energy to make it happen."

"Then you wouldn't know," Len asked carefully, "how people stuck in the loop would act? Are they guaranteed to make the same decisions if there isn't an outside influence? Or could they do something different?"

"If anyone's documented that kinda thing, it wasn't in my reports. If I had to guess, though, they wouldn't necessarily make the same decisions every time." Mick tilted his head back, studying Len. "Lemme guess, you're not gonna tell me why you want to know."

"Doesn't matter, it'd be impossible, right? Given we're outside of regular time."

"And having to destroy a wellspring of contained temporal energy is just a coincidence." Mick snorted. "You think I didn't know you were angling for something at the start of the conversation? Thirty years and you still don't trust me."

Len drew back, stung. "I trust you. Or at least used to."

"Only when it suited you- when you needed me. Everything else you just gave me enough tidbits to keep me coming back. You'd think I'd have enough of people feeding me bullshit but I can't seem to get away from it."

"You think I manipulated you?"

"You already said you did, don't try taking it back now."

Len clicked his jaw shut. He remembered that conversation, after the 2046 fiasco. "I may have lied on occasions but I never let you go out unprepared. I always made sure you came back."

"Unless you decided to cut your losses."

"Are we having this argument again? I may have pushed you away but you pushed me away just as often. But _I_ was the one that always came back to you!"

"Fuck if I know why. Bailing so you wouldn't have to deal with my shit is the smartest thing you've ever done." Mick pushed passed Len, "Don't blame you for that, except that you keep coming back and I keep thinking things'll be different. _I'll_ be different. Don't worry, after this I'll be outta your hair. Won't have to worry 'bout stringing me along again." He disappeared into the kitchen before Len could work out what he meant.

He found himself- out of habit -going to Sara's room though he lacked cards as an excuse to drop by. She called out to him anyway, "That's the look of a man that just got rejected."

"First there'd have to me something worth my wanting."

She smirked, "I'm sorry, was I suppose to believe there isn't?" When Len didn't respond, Sara asked, "So? How did you fuck up this time?"

He glared, "What makes you think _I_ fucked up?"

"Because you don't seem to get what Mick wants from you."

The glare lessened. "He's been talking to you?" Len knew they talked but he never bothered to find out about what. As messed up as their relationship currently was, Len wasn't going to disregard Mick's privacy. Or Sara's, for that matter.

"Yup. About feelings, even. He's got a much better grasp of 'em than you, by the way."

He thought about that. About Mick and Sara talking about things Len was ill-equipped to handle, that maybe the best person to deal with an emotionally stunted man wasn't an even more emotionally stunted man. Even with the frequent breaks, it was amazing their partnership had lasted so long without at least one of them exploding.

It hadn't started out that way. It had started out as mutual protection and respect. They had each others' backs because no one else would. For the most part that's how it still was but, at some point, Len decided the best way to protect Mick was by lying to him. And to himself about it. That wasn't how Len wanted their relationship to be. They were partners, not boss and grunt, not master and subordinate. A thirty year partnership and they still couldn't fucking talk to each other.

"Thank you," he said, almost not even realizing he said it.

"For what?"

"Talking with him. Looking out for him." His eyes cut away. "Making me talk to him. You're the only one on this ship that never judged or insulted him. Either of us." Len gave an amused huff. "Probably why you're the only one I actually like being with. The thing with Mick aside, this trip wouldn't have been nearly as much fun without you." There was a stretch of silence following the confession and when Len looked up, Sara was looking at him with an expression he'd almost call touched. It made him incredibly uncomfortable and not even in a pleasant kind of way.

"Never knew you could be sincere," her smile was soft and fond, "thank you, Leonard. I really appreciate it." That made him feel even worse, like he was being dishonest even if he had meant every word. Probably because he knew he only said it because he knew she wouldn't remember. Sara caught his uneasy expression even if she didn't understand the cause, laughing and poking Len's shoulder with a foot. "Must've taken a lot out of you to say that."

He played up the scowl, shaking his arms like he'd touched something grotesque. "Honesty, ugh. How do people stand it?"

"Consider it practice," she said, sitting up to bump her shoulder against Len's. "For when you're honest with the one that needs to hear it most."

"He already knows what I think about him."

"I don't think he ever really did."

At the Oculus, seeing Mick standing there with his broad back and powerful shoulders, Len questioned, for the first time, if he stayed to save Ray or because he thought he was unimportant enough to make that sacrifice. Something bubbled in Len's chest, words that he couldn't figure out how to string together. So he fell back onto his script, smashing Mick across the head and laying his cold gun next to him.

"Get him out of here," he told Sara. She stared at him for a moment before stepping up and kissing him. Something about it felt different than all the ones before but it hadn't lasted long enough for Len to figure it out. When she pulled back, Len said without intending to, "Take care of him for me."

Sara managed to smile. "I will."

~*~*~*~

Loop 15

Len just watched for a couple loops, trying to influence things as little as possible just to see if someone would change things up on their own.

He was horrified to find that they could.

Mick stood before him, armor gleaming dully, rifle primed and raised. "Chronos," the Time Master next to him said, "shoot."

Len didn't know what it was- a twitch, a shifting of weight, the very air around them -but he realized something was wrong and he spun away just fast enough the bolt lanced at his shoulder. It crackled against the protective field over an empty cage. Ray was pounding on his cell, shouting at Mick. Len was too busy trying not to get shot to pay him any actual attention.

There wasn't much room to duck and hide though Len had managed to put the Time Master between him and Mick, freezing him, hoping for a temporary shield. Mick just charged through him like he didn't matter. Which, given he was already dead before he shattered, was true.

Mick, conversely, barely bothered to dodge Len's attacks, his armor was doing a good job of sloughing it off. He decided to forgo the rifle, sling it across his back and catching Len with a haymaker right in the sternum. He gasped, half sprawled on the empty cage, scrambling to get his senses and breath back but Mick was already on him. He clamped a heavy, gloved hand on Len's throat and squeezed.

His vision started going black, Len slapped ineffectually at Mick's arm before dropping it, scrabbling at the armor. He found an edge, yanking at it with his remaining strength. He jabbed the barrel of the cold gun into the gap and fired.

Mick staggered back, looking down at his side like he was confused. He reached up, grabbing the jagged tail of ice protruding out and fell to his knees. "Snart..." even through the vocalizer, the name was slurred and gargled. Then he fell over.

Len stood there, propped up on by the cage, staring, heart racing. He sucked in air, gulping it down like he couldn't get enough in his lungs and he stared. His hands shook so hard the cold gun was clattering until his knees buckled.

He killed Mick. Oh god, he killed Mick.

Len's whole body heaved and he could taste unshed tears and bile in the back of his throat. Distantly he heard shouting- his name and fists pounding on a surface. The others. He had to free the others. Len rolled over until he could get on his hands and knees, pushing himself to his feet and nearly crashing down again. He made it to Ray's cell, trying to focus passed the black edging his vision, trying to get his hands steady. He couldn't remember how he got it open but in an instant Ray was out, freeing the others.

Rip strode to the doorway, pausing long enough to pick up Mick's fallen rifle. He checked the corridor and said, "Let's go."

"No." Len's voice was just as unsteady as his legs. "We have to take Mick."

"Mr. Snart, I understand what a loss this is, but taking his body will slow-"

" _I'm not leaving him, dammit_! _Help me_!"

" _We're_ not leaving him." Ray said firmly, supporting Stein by the shoulders. "Snart, if you can take the professor, Rip and I can carry Mick."

For a moment Rip looked like he was ready to argue before deciding it would only waste more time. Between Mick's broad frame and the Chronos gear, the weight staggered the two men. Stein grabbed Len's arm, obviously trying his best not to lean on him too heavily. "I am so very sorry," he breathed out.

Len just set his jaw and moved out.

Once back on the _Waverider_ , Sara met them at the gangplank, hand raised to her mouth at the sight of the ice remnants in Mick. Her eyes glistened but she stayed firm as she took Stein from Len, leading him to the medbay, allowing Len to follow as the other two men dragged the body to Mick's quarters.

They laid him on the bed and Len hung in the doorway while Ray pulled Mick's helmet off- Len's shot pierced a lung, blood had spilled down his chin. Throat tight, Len went to grab and wet a wash cloth. When he returned, Ray must have closed Mick's eyelids. The scientist bit his lip, trying to think of something to say. In the end he just put a hand to Len's back in quiet support before he and Rip- with Mick's wrist-mounted computer in hand -retreated. In the empty room, Len cleaned off Mick's face gently.

He looked almost peaceful. Relaxed in a way Mick rarely was in life and if it wasn't for the blue beginning to tinge his lips Len could almost fool himself into believing he was sleeping. But he wasn't. He was dead and Len was the one that killed him. He put a hand to Mick's cheek- cold when Mick had always been a furnace -and he bit back a wet gasp. Len managed to order Gideon to lock the door before the first sob broke free. He curled over Mick's body, clutching at him tightly as if that would bring him back and he cried and cried and cried.

At the Oculus, the moment Ray discovered someone had to stay behind to initiate the destruct sequence, Len shoved him aside. When Ray tried to argue that this was supposed to be the moment _he_ died, Len just cut in with a snarl. "If you want to stay here and die, _fine_." His voice dropped to a growl, eyes beginning to sting with tears under his goggles. "But I'm going to make them pay."

Under the shouting and shooting, he heard the two men leave. He fired at the guards, shots that only froze limbs, turning skin black and dead under the ice. Shots that made them writhe and scream though they'd never know the pain Len was feeling. Then, as the countdown in the back of his head reached zero, Len couldn't help think _I'm coming, Mick_.

~*~*~*~

Loop 16

He grabbed Mick by the arm, dragging him towards the bridge. "The hell, Snart-"

"That Alexa feeling hasn't gone away," he said shortly. He pulled up the panel in Rip's study and all but shoved Mick in. Stein was still on the bridge, the guards not yet on board, and he was staring. "Sorry, Gramps," Len gave him a tight smirk, "private party." Len climbed in, shutting the panel to Stein's flustered words. The space was tight. With Sara, the two had been pressed together all along one side from shoulder to hip to ankle. With Mick, Len could do little else but sit in his lap. Any other situation he'd see how far he could tease Mick before their chances of being detected got too high. But their relationship hadn't gotten back to that point yet and Len wasn't going to risk letting those time bastards get at Mick ever again.

He couldn't forget the way Mick had said his name with his last breath.

Len may have been a bit overzealous in making sure Mick was safe, counting off nearly ten minutes before he heard the guards coming for Stein. Mick, having spent that time grumbling curses under his breath and fidgeting, stilled. When the guards were on top of them- literally -they barely even breathed. Len's knees ached and he could feel Mick's fingers twitching by his calves. For a wild moment Len wanted to grab Mick's hands and put them on his hips, wanted to fool himself- for just a second -into thinking that they were at a point where Mick would gleefully take any excuse to manhandle Len.

Instead he closed his eyes and focused on the sound of footsteps leaving. He counted five minutes, then ten and finally at twelve he stood, knees protesting at the movement. The sudden presence of Mick's hands on his hips, steadying him, nearly made Len sink back down.

After they climbed back out into the bridge, Mick grunted, "Alexa?"

"We may have to think of a phrase for a higher severity level." Assuming Len ever got out of the loop so he could use it. Assuming Mick decided to hang around if that happened.

Even though Len already knew a proven plan that, given Mick's ability to fly time ships, didn't require much adjusting, he still went through the motions of it with Mick. It was... fun. And familiar. Having Mick standing at his shoulder as they went over the map of the Vanishing Point, Mick adding pertinent information. Even with Gideon's occasional interjections- her plan coupled with Len's suggestion of song made Mick grin long and bright -it felt so much like old times that Len couldn't help dropping occasional teases and jokes and Mick- _finally_ -dished it right back out.

There was no hiding the fact Len had a stupidly happy little smile on his face. From the corner of his eye, he saw Mick had one, too.

According to Mick the bounty hunters used what amounted to service halls, "So we wouldn't disturb the high n' mighties with all our clanking 'round." With that knowledge, Mick was able to plot out an easier course for Len as well as a closer pick-up than having to backtrack all the way to the hangar.

"Insider info is always the best," Len drawled. He could've sworn he saw a spark of pride in Mick's expression. "Any suggestions on what kind of resistance I should expect?"

"Basically hourly pay security guard types only with high tech gear and they don't actually get paid."

"You're kidding."

"Time Masters have no need for money."

Len wrinkled his nose. "No money? What has society come to?"

"Guards got minimal training, second-rate gear and no one's ever been stupid enough to attack the Vanishing Point head on so none of them have ever had to deal with an actual emergency."

"You think they got anymore bounty hunters since you left?"

Mick snorted, "You'd think so since we decimated the ones they use most." He eyed the cold gun, "If they got the same armor I did, you'll need another weapon. They got a special coating on 'em so liquids can't stick."

He was very much aware of that. "What do you suggest?"

Mick took him to the cargo hold and opened up one of the boxes. He pulled out a device somewhat bigger than his palm. "Concussive explosive. Won't damage the armor but even the armor won't be able to protect against the shockwave. If they're tough bastards, they'll survive one but probably suffer some nasty internal injuries that'll knock 'em good on their ass."

Len smirked, committing the location of the case to memory. "Good to know."

The heist itself- he was doing it with Mick, it automatically became a heist in his mind even if what they were 'stealing' were captured teammates -went off even easier than the others. Until Len reached the prisoners and saw someone missing.

"Goddammit," he muttered, clearing out of the doorway just as that someone entered. Len sucked in a breath. Even with the helmet and bulky clothing and the different stance, he could tell it was Sara. She tilted her head at him like he was a vaguely interesting bug she had to exterminate, the barrels on her wrists ready and glowing. The Time Master strode proudly into the room, sneering at Len. "Laima. Kill him."

She was quick. Quicker than he expected, knocking the cold gun from his hands and Len knew he was screwed. He could hold his own in a fight with most, but against a twice trained Assassin? He'd be lucky if he got out of this no worse than his cage match with Mick.

Somehow, beyond his head ringing and his ass getting thoroughly kicked, Len heard something. Yelling. Lots of it. He staggered back from a blow to the ribs, landing at the base of Ray's cell. Ray, like he had with Mick, was calling Sara's name and beseeching her to stop. Rip and Stein were doing the same, even when they hadn't any time before.

Something stung at Len's chest, sharp and angry. Even now, nearing the end of their godforsaken journey, no one trusted Mick. No one believed in him, no one thought he was capable of something other than treachery. He wondered, in that last loop, if he was the only one that even mourned Mick's death.

Sara might have; she never put herself above the Rogues. Ray probably did because he was naive and foolish and cared too damn much. But did Rip or Stein think of it as something other than a vague loss? Did the news make Jax pause even for a second?

The thought infuriated Len and distracted him long enough Sara got him in the leg, crumpling to the ground. She stomped up closer to get a clean kill shot. Close enough for Len to take her to the ground with a leg bar- one of the first moves he'd learned in prison, back when he was young and unknown and pretty enough it got him too much attention it overwhelmed even Mick's defenses. As quick as Sara was, her thick gear still hampered her movements just enough for Len to lunge for his gun, fingers dancing over the controls and setting it to a wide beam that froze the Time Master and, lacking Chronos's heavy plates, Sara.

"My God, man!" Rip gasped. "Did you just-"

"Superficial freeze. She'll be fine once she gets to Gideon." Len went over to the Time Master and tipped him over. He didn't shatter as cleanly as someone frozen through but it was definite he didn't survive.

As the others let out breathes of relief and compliments, Len considered freeing only Ray. Not that Ray would willingly go anywhere without the others or would Rip and Stein understand why they'd be left behind. So while Len _did_ only free Ray, he picked up Sara and waited until Ray freed the others before leaving.

Len took Sara to the medbay, Ray close behind as he helped Stein. He felt the _Waverider_ unhooking from the emergency chute they'd docked against. Then, as Gideon began thawing Sara out, the ship shook. No more than a minute after, Len looked up as the doors to the medbay opened to let Mick jog in. His expression turned into a sneer at the sight of Sara in bounty hunter gear. Mick pulled off her gauntlet, studying it momentarily. "She gets an upgraded version. Of course."

"What's going on?" Len asked. On the other side of the medbay, Ray and Stein looked just as confused.

"Vanishing Point's got a tractor beam locked onto us," Mick said gruffly. "Gideon can't break it 'cause Hunter's access codes have been revoked."

"But they might not have had time to revoke it for their newest bounty hunter," Ray realized. "Assuming they gave her access to begin with."

"Time Masters aren't that dumb but they're lazy as hell when it comes to whoever they think is below 'em. Including their bounty hunters," Mick tapped at the keypad. "All of us but the Pilgrim used the same access codes, just need her ID. Hopefully they think I never bothered to remember 'em and didn't change it."

The jerking abruptly stopped and Gideon announced, "Tractor beam has been disengaged."

Ray cheered and moved to slap Mick's back, thought better of the glare he got and backed away with a clap of his hands. Len smirked at him, "Nicely done, partner." The epithet came out before he could stop it and Mick looked at him with an unreadable expression. He looked away, still holding Sara's gauntlet, and retreated from the medbay. Len had the distinct impression he'd just fucked something up.

~*~*~*~

Len had scared Ray out of the kitchen earlier so he'd have a private place to have this conversation. When Mick saw who was there before him, he paused for a moment before continuing in. The lure of cupcakes was too much for him.

"So this brainwashing thing the Time Masters do," Len drawled without preamble as Mick approached. Mick rolled his eyes like he was expecting this. "Are they just really bad at it or are you actually that stubborn?"

"You wanna know why I could beat it but Blondie couldn't?" Mick shrugged, one of those tense kind of ones that said there was a limit to how much he was willing to talk about this. "I found something to focus on."

From just about anyone else it wouldn't have been even half an answer but for Mick it was all Len needed to know, thoroughly convincing him no one else on the ship would be able to withstand the treatment- including himself. Mick's focus was like a bear trap, a double-edged sword in which very little could distract him. It kept Mick sane- more or less -when most would break, from the traumas of his childhood to the tortures and beatings he suffered both in and out of prison. Len looked at him through his lashes and asked, "Which was?"

"How much I hated you."

Even if Mick's voice was resigned, just a bland statement and not holding any residual ire, it still hurt like hell. Len covered it up with a twisting smirk. "Not the most flattering thing you've ever said to me. Funny how that hate insulated your mind and yet here you are."

Mick scowled suddenly, like he was angry at himself. "Turns out hundreds of years being the Time Masters' attack dog doesn't trump thirty years of partnership." He grabbed a cupcake and stalked out.

Len thrummed his fingers against the table, thinking about the way they'd worked together. "No," he muttered to himself, "it doesn't."

~*~*~*~

Loop 19

Len got up and checked on Mick. It was a habit even though he knew the condition his former partner would be in at the start of each loop. As he stood at Mick's side, however, he noticed something different- a chain that looped a ring around his neck. Len stared at it, trying to figure out what it was doing there, especially since he'd never seen even the hint of Mick keeping a ring before. A ring that looked suspiciously like the one Len had worn, the one he vaguely remembered given to Mick after the first explosion. It was bigger than Len's, big enough to fit his middle finger, and when Len looked at it he noticed something etched inside, the font simple but perfectly crafted. Professionally done.

It read LS/MR 08-13-2015.

It took a moment of thought to figure out what that meant but when the possibility hit him, Len froze. He'd thought of it before- thirty years with the man, of course he had -but he hadn't... It was too... Mick wouldn't, even if...

Len lightly tucked the ring back under Mick's shirt and slipped out of the medbay. He went through the loop in a haze, trying to understand how this was possible and trying to keep from thinking too deeply on it. He stayed as far away from Mick as possible because he knew if he didn't watch himself he'd ask what the date meant. And if it was what he thought it was, he would've let someone else hold the trigger.

~*~*~*~

Loop 22

It took too much time to convince Kendra to get into the floor space in the previous loop- causing Len and Gideon planning furiously on how to stage a rescue with just one person -so this time around he had Mick chloroform her and place her down inside. Mick stared hard at him as Len began to climb in after. "You better know what you're doing, Snart."

"I can only hope," he responded wryly. The hatch closed and he heard Mick drag a spluttering Stein off. Len tried to position himself in the least incriminating way possible around Kendra.

She woke up so close after the guards left that Len had to clamp a hand over her mouth. Her hands clamped down on his wrist and he was momentarily surprised at the strength of her grip, even still groggy. If it weren't for his jacket, her nails would've probably drawn blood. "Keep quiet," he hissed. "You start making noise then we're both caught."

There was only a sliver of light that slipped around the edges of the hatch, just enough to catch Kendra's large eyes, clearly unconvinced but grudgingly trusting. When her hand dropped from his wrist, Len knew she must have felt her mace- which he strategically placed -and that helped her relax. In such a tight space, they both knew she'd come out the better if he did anything she didn't like.

When they finally climbed out, Kendra starting rolling into one question after another, very clearly working herself into an impressive freak-out. Len raised a finger, making her pause. "You want answers, you can st art with," the phone rang and his finger tilted in its direction, "that." Gideon was far more patient in dealing with Kendra than Len was.

They were in the middle of planning- Kendra's skillset didn't lend well to either infiltration or distraction but Len had been in this scenario dozens of times already and had done it solo once, he could figure something out -when Gideon announced a call.

"A general communique," she said, "designed to be played on all screens."

Len and Kendra exchanged cautious glances. "Alright," he drawled, "let's see it."

The screen flickered on; it was Savage standing in front of the line of cages. Len saw all their captured teammates were still there. "Greetings, my elusive runaways. I must say, while I'm pleased to see so many of you locked away, I was quite disappointed to find that my beloved Chay-Ara was not among them. I would very much hate to leave without her, you understand.

"Now. The Time Masters would rather search you out. However I am quiet familiar with your kind, Mr. Snart." Savage grinned at the camera, all teeth and no warmth. "You're cagey and clever, you'll find some way to allude your hunters and, given enough time, will figure out a way to rescue your friends. So I have offered the Time Masters an alternative. You will come to me and it will be at my specified time. Because if you and Chay-Ara do not give yourselves up to me, I will kill your friends." Savage turned to the cages, seeming to contemplate his choices. "I would consider starting with your captain, but the Time Masters would prefer him to stand trial and I am nothing if not fair to my friends. The good professor here is already badly off, killing him would be more of a mercy. Which leaves us with three," Savage turned back to the camera, grin even wider. "I could, of course, threaten Chay-Ara's temporary lover, but I can't guarantee how much that will sway her now that her soul mate is back in the picture.

"But you, Mr. Snart, I remember how protective you are of your friend here." He strode over to where Mick stood, seemingly bored while a megalomaniac circled him, tracing a sharp knife- Kendra's -against the cage. "I remember how you looked at me and promised to kill me, how very obedient you were when I had him at my mercy. The Time Masters would prefer to keep him, have him rejoin their ranks- and he is a fine specimen of power -but the young lady over there," he waved a hand at Sara, "is just as powerful in her own right. I'm sure they wouldn't mind accepting her instead. So the question is, Mr. Snart, between this man and Chay-Ara, which are you more willing to give up? The two of you will exit your ship in ten minutes and surrender or you will watch him die as I slit his throat."

The line abruptly cut and the sudden silence was so overwhelming it felt like Len's skull was about to cave in. He knew Savage wouldn't give up getting his hands on Kendra but he hadn't expected this. He should have, he should've known. Savage was every level of psychotic and had an incredibly long memory to boot. Len paced the bridge, trying to shove out the rising panic so he could think.

Savage was going to kill Mick, there was no doubt about it.

He knew they were on the ship, everyone would be watching for any attempts to sneak off which screwed Gideon's trick.

Len couldn't think of a way out. They'd either all get caught or Mick would die and Sara would turn and everyone else would still be trapped.

He should have seen this coming.

"Snart," a gentle hand on his arm made Len jump damn near across the table. Kendra just looked at him with soft eyes. "It's okay. I'll go to him."

"This was supposed to keep you _away_ from Savage."

"Better that then letting him kill Rory. You guys can't stage a rescue if no one's alive, right?"

Something in his brain clicked. "True enough," he drawled slowly, the beginnings of a plan coalescing in his head. There'd be no need to stage a rescue if Len reset the loop early. Also technically everyone would be dead but at least Len would be able to get to the Oculus. Part of him screamed at how mind-boggling stupid and short sighted the plan was but it was drowned out by every selfish and greedy and petty part of him that would make Savage pay for threatening Mick _again_.

It's not saving him if you kill him yourself, the small part of him said.

Fuck off, he'll get a death he prefers and I can save him in the next go round, said the rest.

"Gideon," Len called out because if he thought about it too much more he might start listening to the small part. "How far along will you be in ten minutes?"

"I will have restored control to everything but the time drive."

"Forget about the time drive, we're not gonna need it." He already had the coordinates for the Oculus long since memorized. "Kendra," his eyes were wild but determined, "how much do you trust me?"

She pressed her lips together, eyes hardening. "I trust you'll get us through this."

He quirked a grin, "One way or another."

At the appointed time, guards surrounded the _Waverider_ as its gangplank lowered. It didn't do them much good when Kendra swooped out on powerful wings, ignoring everyone around her as she flew straight to the nearest ship that had been left open. She boarded and hit the control for the hatch as the _Waverider_ lifted off and fired at the bay doors, guards rushing out along with the air. Pity Savage hadn't been among them but Len didn't think he was stupid enough to be.

Until the secondary doors could be lowered, the other captains would be unable to get to their ships, buying Len several minutes. Add in the time it would take them to figure out where the _Waverider_ was headed given the wellspring wasn't on any charts, Len would have the time to prep the Oculus for self-destruction.

He felt a twinge of guilt as he left the station behind, regretting that this time around everyone would die thinking he'd abandoned them. Len tightened his grip on the _Waverider_ 's throttle. He'd be more careful next time. He swore it.

~*~*~*~

Loop 28

It took a long time before Len was comfortable attempting to change something again. He scraped all his previous plans, started again from the beginning. He locked himself in his room during the times available and thought and thought and thought.

A couple loops Ray came by with a cupcake like a peace offering. Len shut the door in his face- though he did keep the cupcakes. Once Sara came by with cards and he'd let her in because the switch amused him. But mostly he kept to himself, trying to refocus his plans. What he needed was a way to both destroy the Oculus and survive. Kendra's presence wouldn't make a difference. Neither would the identity of the person brought into the Time Masters' mind bending chair.

Unless there was a way to remote detonate it, nothing would work. Len wondered if the solution was something as simple as weighing the trigger down. He decided he wasn't willing to risk it. Maybe if he had a chance to really examine the machine. Maybe if he was an actual scientist that knew what he was looking at instead of a self-taught drop out-

The door to his room opening distracted him and Len was momentarily thrown. Mick stood there, glowering, and Len forgot he never revoked Mick's access to his room. Mick tossed a pear at him and Len caught it on reflex alone. "Eat," the man said.

"Sorry, only pear products I consume are the brandy kind."

"You wanna see if Hunter has a bottle of that stashed away somewhere, do it on your own time. I ain't leaving until you take a bite." He crossed his arms and set his feet in emphasis.

Len rolled his eyes but took a bite. They'd long since established a routine where Mick made sure Len still managed basic self-care when he got too deep in planning. If Mick had to stand there and watch him eat, Len knew it was because he'd skipped too many meals. "Didn't know I was that bad off," he commented lightly before taking another bite. Just like every other time this happened, Len realized he was starving.

"Could hear you thinking all the way across the ship." When Len had devoured half the pear, Mick stepped back from the doorway, satisfied. "We'll be at the Oculus in ten. Make sure you're head's in the game, Snart."

~*~*~*~

Loop 32

Len couldn't get his head in the game.

He was spiraling, watching as loop after loop went by. Every time he thought up something to change, the absolute worst scenarios would flash in his head. He felt frozen. Locked in a play where any deviation from script ruined everything. And each loop that he passively existed in, Len felt anxiety clawing up in him.

After waking up in the medbay, Len immediately began to pace, restless energy welling up in his joints, crawling up his spine and making pins prick at his lungs with each breath. "Mr. Snart," Gideon said, "your heart rate has increased. Are you having a medical issue?"

"No," he answered tersely. It wasn't a medical issue, it was Len about to suffer a panic attack because he couldn't think of a way out of this. Because he couldn't get away from the source of his anxiety and there was no one to break him out of the spiral because there was no one that he could fucking talk to about what was going on.

"Shall I alert Captain-"

" _No_."

"But Mr. Snart, you have elevated-"

"Just shut up, Gideon!" Fuck, he couldn't think. Every time he tried he just thought of waking up in this same room in this same moment endlessly. He wished Lisa was here. He wished he never left Central. He wished he could just crawl into Mick's arms until everything fucking went away and his thoughts stopped roaring in his ears.

On the bed, Mick groaned.

Len froze. Fuck, he couldn't let Mick see him on the verge of a breakdown. What was he thinking, doing that here? He hurried out of the medbay, hearing a confused, "Snart?" as he passed through the doors. He arrived at the bridge while it was empty, folding himself into the space below, curling in on himself and just waited. He didn't care that he'd have to rescue everyone on his own again he just couldn't be near anyone.

The sounds above echoed- voices, footsteps, raised cries and shuffling as guards dragged people away. Len stayed in the dark, hands cupped over his ears like it would block everything out. Like he could wait out the rising panic if he just closed his eyes tight enough, pressed his face into his knees hard enough. If he just kept mentally chanting 'stop stop stop stop' long enough.

Eventually a phone started ringing.

When Len arrived to free the others, his shoulders were so tight it felt like they were about to snap. Not even his cold gun felt right in his arms- too heavy, the balance wrong, pulling to the side as he shot. Nothing worked as it should and it just made frustration bubble even more in him. Then Mick arrived. Just stood and stared at Len through dark lenses. When the Time Master arrived a handful of steps after, Mick shot him. Didn't let him talk, barely even looked at him, just two quick blasts that left him a crumpled heap on the ground. Mick dropped his rifle, pulled off his helmet and looked ready to fight the whole damn universe. "What's wrong?"

The urge to be buried in Mick's embrace increased tenfold. Len bit his lip and turned away, forcing himself to free the others. He couldn't afford a breakdown, especially in front of anyone else. He led them down the service halls using the codes he'd gotten from a previous version of Mick. That made the current one look at him oddly but he didn't bring it up. Wouldn't where others could overhear. On the _Waverider_ , Len went through the motions of taking Stein to the medbay, giving Sara a terse, "I got it," when she offered to help- an obvious ploy to ask about his mood. During the talk about the Oculus, Len stayed in the back, stayed quiet and tried not to look too anxious to get away from everyone.

The safety of his room was short lived. Once he no longer had anything to focus on and nothing to distract him, once they were on their way to the Oculus, everything came back twice as worse. He crammed into the corner of his bunk, wrapped up in a blanket and tried to remember his breathing exercises.

A shadow fell over him and Len jolted- fuck, he forgot Mick still had access to his room. He curled under his blanket, trying not to look as pitiful and defensive as he felt.

Mick eyed him for a moment before, warily, his shoulders went back, jaw set and brow lowered. "What is it, Snart?" His voice was deep and alert and settled around Len like a protective blanket. Len felt tension wanting to seep out of his spine.

The fact that Mick had come to help made Len feel like his chest was cracking in two. "I can't..." he shut his eyes and felt panic rise like bile, "I..."

The bed shifted as Mick sat on the edge, hand just short of touching Len's boot. "Do you need me?"

He couldn't get the words, "I always need you," out of his throat so Len just nodded.

"I'm here," Mick's voice was low and soothing, "I've got you. Don't think about anything but me. Nothing's going to hurt you while I'm here. You trust me, right?"

He nodded.

"Then you know I'll take care of anything that comes up. I'll take care of you. I ain't leaving you." Mick held his hand out by Len's, palm up. Not for Len to take but so he could wrap his fingers around Mick's wrist and feel his pulse. "Just focus on me. I'm here. I got you. I'm here. I got you."

Mick continued the chant, his voice a calming warmth as Len tried to match his breathing to Mick's pulse. Counting out each steady beat until he stopped trembling.

When he finally opened his eyes again, Len found Mick had moved a little closer. "Pretty bad this time," he said neutrally.

Len nodded. "Couldn't get it to stop."

Slowly, watching carefully to see if it was the wrong move, Mick's hands came up on either side of Len's face. Len couldn't stop the instinct to flinch but he stubbornly kept from pulling away. Mick was gentle, almost cautiously so and something in Len's chest fluttered. Mick cradled his head like he always did whenever Len's thoughts were screaming, threatening to drown everything out. Holding him like that was enough to anchor Len to him, to keep Len's skull from flying apart. Often enough it was.

Len put his hands to Mick's. Then he turned his head and pressed his lips against Mick's wrist. He felt fingers twitch against the side of his head but Mick didn't pull away. So Len turned his head more, pressing a firmer kiss to Mick's palm. His other hand skimmed up Mick's arm, letting the material of his jacket bunch and give. He traced his hand across Mick's chest until he felt the soft material of his shirt and pressed his hand flat, reveling in the warmth and sturdiness. He felt the beat of Mick's heart pick up.

Len couldn't have stopped himself from speaking, even if he wanted to. "Tell me if you don't want this. Tell me no and I'll never bother you again."

"What's with you, Snart?" Mick asked, bewildered but he still wasn't tensing under Len's hands, his touch still tender.

"I need to remember," he leaned in, nose bumping against Mick's cheek, "I need a reason to keep doing this."

Hands moved from his head and settled against his shoulders, warm and impossibly large. Mick bit his lip, brow furrowed like he didn't think he should be doing this but didn't think he could stop himself, either.

Len's fingers dug into his wrist. "Please, Mick."

That broke his reserve, Mick looking up at him like he'd do anything Len wanted simply because Len wanted it. "I'll take care of you, Len."

Nothing could have stopped Len from kissing him from just the sound of his name alone- not Snart, but his _name_. He practically growled into Mick's mouth, "Say it again. Say my name again."

"Len-"

" _Again_."

Mick softened against him, gentling the biting kiss and making the younger man melt against him with a well-placed touch. When he pulled back, Mick breathed, "...Lenny."

The Oculus could have suffered a freak explosion at that moment and Len wouldn't have cared; _this_ was what he wanted more than anything throughout time.

He let Mick lay him back on the bed, let himself be undressed. He closed his eyes and Mick swept his hands over Len's body, murmuring out praises and pet names and support until Len was languid and calm. He hummed approvingly as he was bracketed by Mick's arms, nearly smothered by his big, powerful body and it was a position they rarely indulged in even in their better periods. It was a position Len allowed only when he was stressed to the point of breaking, Mick's weight grounding him, his broad back hiding Len from the rest of the world. He was a shield and cocoon, blanket and armor rolled into one, making sure nothing could get at Len. Len wrapped his arms around Mick's shoulders and refused to let go.

After, Mick was sprawled and dozing, Len's head pillowed on his chest and soaking in the heat and endorphins. It was a position that made Len feel both powerful and protected, not that he would ever admit it. Just like he wouldn't admit he missed this. Not just sex with Mick but the familiarity of the two of them together and the contentment of after. As much as Len loved challenges and control and money, no heist in the world ever made him as whole as these quiet moments with Mick did.

He pressed a kiss to Mick's chest, where a burn scar arced over his ribs, cutting up across his left pectoral. The one that Len often teased looked like a tiger stripe. "I'll make this sacrifice for the rest of eternity," he murmured against Mick's skin, "if it means you never have to go through this."

~*~*~*~

Len didn't think about that moment beyond waking up to Gideon announcing their approach to the Oculus wellspring, running a hand up and down Mick's chest as the man grumbled half-awake, Len privately wishing he'd figured out a way to keep things from looping again.

He didn't think about it until he charged into the Oculus with Sara behind him, calling out as he always did, "Mick!" He realized he'd made a mistake when Mick turned and he saw the expression on the other man's face an instant before he shot a tongue of flame at them. Not aiming to hurt, just make them stop. " _Mick_!"

"Don't know how you knew," Mick growled, half his attention on Len and Sara, the other half on the guards, "but this was why you've been so weird today, isn't it? You knew someone had to die here and you decided it'd be you. Well fuck that- it ain't happening!"

"So you're going to sacrifice yourself?" Len snapped.

"Better me than you!" Mick turned to the guards trying to come up at him, jaw set and eyes tight. "You can do so much better than me. Knew that since we were kids. But for some stupid reason you always came back for me. Not this time." His eyes flickered briefly to Sara. "You finally get your chance for something better."

Len's throat knotted up. He wanted to scream at Mick, wanted to curse him out because Mick always deserved more than Len gave him, was so much better than he ever believed himself to be and Len didn't want a world without Mick in it. He swallowed hard, raised his gun and fired.

Mick _howled_ as his arm froze and when Len charged up and shattered it with his gun like a club, Mick collapsed to the ground. " _Leonard, what the fuck_!" Sara all but shrieked, grabbing Mick by the jacket and pulling him close.

"I know what happens after this," Len tried not to think too hard about the pieces he shoved out of his way so he could hold the trigger down. "And I'm not letting you go through it. Get him back to the ship, Gideon can fix him up." Len looked back at them, Sara dwarfed under Mick's arm, Mick biting his lip hard enough to make it bleed. He turned away and took a steadying breath. "Forgive me."

~*~*~*~

Loop 33

Immediately upon waking up Len went straight to Mick's side. He knew the damage from the previous loop wouldn't carry over but he still hesitated when he put his hand to Mick's arm where Len had shattered it. He let out a breath at the feel of corded muscle and supple heat.

Everything he'd done since the loops began crushed down on him all at once. Letting things happen as they willed left a chance of things still turning to shit, but it seemed every proactive thing Len tried made something turn out even worse. If he kept trying to change things, was there a chance that he might do something that would make it more difficult to save Kendra or stop Savage? Had he already ruined things? He thought about the loops where he killed or incapacitated one of the others- did those go on even if he didn't? Did each new loop overwrite the one before?

He thought back to Rip's words about time wanting to happen, about all his attempts to save his family cementing their deaths in time. Len clenched at Mick's arm tight enough he felt the muscles twitch. "I can't do anything."

~*~*~*~

Loop Unknown

He stopped trying. Stopped fighting, stopped planning. He did what he had to, going through his motions by rote, barely even bothered with the banter. Sometimes someone noticed, sometimes someone cared. Sometimes he had to knock out Mick when he turned to Chronos, sometimes he had to knock out Ray when Mick left him at the Oculus.

Len resigned himself to the idea that this was what he'd do until time finally burnt out. The same actions, the same threats and risks with little deviation. It wore on him, grinding at his nerves and his mind but every time he thought of doing something different the memories of previous loops came back.

God, he missed Mick.

Some loops he couldn't speak to Mick at all, couldn't bring himself to do it even though he very much wanted to. He couldn't risk venting about what he was going through, the torture of sacrificing himself loop after loop. It was so goddam ironic that he felt less able to talk to Mick _now_ , when their relationship was in a relatively tolerant stage than when Mick was raging in a cell. Other times he didn't think he could hold himself back, so desperate for comfort it would turn into a repeat of the loop he had to shatter Mick's arm.

Then there were the loops where they didn't talk but quietly co-existed and being able to simply sit with Mick was surprisingly calming. Sometimes Mick would actually worry, standing a little bit closer, making sure Len ate. And some loops, when Len was particularly masochistic, they talked. Sometimes about the past, sometimes about Lisa, on very rare occasions about each other and all the complications that came with it. At first the ability to talk to Mick while knowing things would reset was freeing, that if Len said anything he regretted it would just go away. He could be honest and Mick, more often than not, returned that honesty. But then, the more honest he got, the more he and Mick delved into their issues and Len realized he couldn't remember the last time he'd felt this close to Mick. Realized he understood his old partner in ways he hadn't in years, perhaps decades.

But then those loops would reset and Mick would go back to barely tolerating him and Len wanted to fucking scream. He hadn't felt such a crushing loneliness, such helplessness since he was a teenager. He just wanted this to end.

He thought about it a couple times, not being the one at the Oculus. After what had to be well over fifty loops, of course he did but he was only ever tempted whenever he saw the ring around Mick's neck. Len still hadn't figured out why it appeared occasionally, the ring and the inscription almost always the same. Sometimes the date would be different, sometimes it had their full names written out. Len wanted to know if anything else was different between them, if Mick's burns were still there, if Len had abandoned him or the Time Masters found some other way to turn him into Chronos.

He wondered what it would be like to stay in those strange loops where Len was certain he had a husband. But he kept going. Forcing himself through the motions, quietly being crushed by the burden of having to reach into the Oculus time and time again. He rested his head against the machine, closed his eyes and counted down until the explosion.

Something jostled his shoulder, "Move." It shocked Len so much he nearly jerked away from the trigger. It was Chronos. Or a smaller version. _A_ version, now that Len was really focusing on it, the armor was heavily modified and somewhat ill-fitting. Which made the vocalizer sounding the same all the more disorienting. "Move your hand or lose another one."

This Chronos had Lisa's gun.

Len sucked in a breath, so startled Chronos was able to shove him aside. It stuffed something into the opening, taking a moment to ensure it was in place before stepping back and shooting a long stream of gold until the whole thing was filled solid. The stance and movements were all so familiar that Len just stood there shellshocked. "Lisa? What- how- you-"

From the movement of her head, Len knew she was rolling her eyes. "I know, obligatory Terminator line- _let's go_!" She holstered her gun, linked an arm through Len's and did some fiddly thing to the wrist-mounted computer. A tingly, vibrating sensation passed through Len, like a dentist drill reverberating through his entire body for a second before vanishing and then Lisa pulled him out of the building.

Around them the shooting stopped and Len looked back to see no one seemed concerned about them, only about the clogged Oculus. Once they were outside none of the guards there gave them or the _Waverider_ , sitting in plain view nearby, a second look.

"Why is-"

"Rescue now, answers later!"

They ran through the open hatchway where, of all people, Cisco and Hartley were waiting for them. Cisco called out, "They're on!" and the hatch closed and there was the familiar sensation of the _Waverider_ lifting into the air. Cisco pointed at a couple harnesses set up by the door, similar to the ones he and Hartley were already buckled into- along with a large, furiously blinking machine between them. "Buckle up, things are gonna suck for a bit. Also, glad you're not lost in time anymore."

Len strapped himself in while he stared at the two, unable to wrap his brain around what was going on. Beside him Lisa secured herself before pulling off her helmet. "Ugh," she wrinkled her nose at it, "I don't know how Mickey could stand wearing that."

"He couldn't," Len said before he could stop himself. Lisa turned and smiled at him and it was the most painfully beautiful thing he ever recalled seeing that Len wrapped his arms around her best he could, for once not caring who witnessed the display of affection. "Didn't think I'd see you again," he admitted quietly into her hair, plaited close to her head.

"Not getting rid of me that easily," she chided lightly with her voice thick.

True to Cisco's word the ride really did suck. Even worse than the first time Len had gone through time. When everything stopped vibrating, his teeth were creaking in an effort to keep from vomiting. Cisco was not so lucky though he was also prepared with barf bags close on hand. Hartley wrinkled his nose and scrambled to unbuckle himself, "Dammit, Cisco," he groused between gritted teeth, "if you set me off again, I swear to God..."

Cisco fumbled with his own straps, staggering off somewhere else to presumably keep vomiting. Hartley checked the device and, deeming whatever job it had done to be complete, shut it off. He looked up at Len and Lisa as they freed themselves at a more leisurely pace. "Well, that was an experience."

"Eloquently put," Len drawled, still trying to figure out what the hell was happening here.

His suspicious tone set off Hartley- and Cisco, when he finally returned -into an explanation of the rescue mission, starting with Cisco- who was a meta, Len had not predicted that -being able to figure out Len was still alive through the ring Mick had. Since Team Flash already had experience with traveling to different realities via vibrational frequencies- also not a thing he predicted -they figured finding Len was a matter of getting the right frequency.

"Only with completely different realities it's a lot easier because the frequencies are so much different," Cisco explained. "For minor deviations of the same reality, it takes a lot more finessing and who could finesse frequencies better than the ultimate sound guy, Piper?"

The sound Hartley made was half modest, half smug. "All the groundwork was sound, it just needed a little fine tuning to get it just right. Especially since we had such a short window to work with before you got sent to another reality subset which meant starting all over again."

Len hadn't expected to understand what they were talking about but he was mostly confused with why Hartley was working with Cisco as last he heard, Hartley had been in considered- at least on the Flash side -a Rogue.

"As far as blowing things up," Lisa said, "that scientist friend of yours- the one that looks like a puppy -he said in order to get the trigger to work, something something, electrical currents in the body, blah blah blah. So we just rigged up a weight to give off electricity and since gold's such a good conductor... Really, it was a pretty boring lecture," she waved it off like it was unimportant. Most likely because Cisco and Hartley looked ready to launch into the actual science spiel in response to her flippancy. His little sister was such a troll, Len loved her so much. She took her brother by the hand, looking so excitedly happy that Len couldn't help remembering her as a little girl again. "C'mon! I know the others are dying to see you again!"

The others consisted of Sara, once against at the helm of the _Waverider_ with Rip and Mick both surrounded by notes, equations, various screens and what Len assumed were temporal charts. "We had to turn off Gideon," Lisa told him, "didn't seem to take reality-jumping well. They both had to talk Sara through navigation."

Rip popped to his feet first, "Ah, Mr. Snart! Absolutely wonderful to see you again! You seem well enough but I'd suggest going down to the medbay and having Gideon check you over." He paused for a moment. "Once I bring her back on line which- if you'll excuse me." With a quick grin and nod, Rip went off, presumably to do just as he said. Which was fine with Len- he hadn't been on his shortlist of people he particularly cared to be reunited with.

Sara spun around in her seat, brilliant smile on her face, "Thank you for traveling Air Canary," she said chipperly, "we hope you survived your trip without vomiting and all complaints should be lodged with the bastard that got himself stuck in time to begin with."

"Asides from minor vomiting on Ramon's part, I barely noticed a thing." Len's smirk threatened to turn into a smile as Sara came down to hug him, pressing a kiss to the corner of his mouth. "The lack of inflight beverage was disappointing, though."

"You want a drink so bad, you know where the kitchen is." She stood back, leaving nothing between Len and Mick and, suddenly, Len found his throat knotted up.

He'd spent so long wishing he could talk to Mick, wanting to be able to be at his side again, to move passed the friction and get his partner back. He wanted it all in a way that would _last_. Now that he had the opportunity again he didn't want to do anything but just... look at Mick. Drink in the sight of him like it was all a hallucination brought on by the time loops. Mick looked back at him, shifting uncertainly and unable to look Len in the eye. Eventually he shoved something into Len's hand, mumbled out, "Good to have you back," before very nearly running away.

Len never knew what heartbreak felt like but he'd guess it probably wasn't much worse than that.

Gideon suddenly announced cheerfully, "Welcome back, Mr. Snart. Please make your way to the medbay so I can give you a check-up." Len looked down at his hand instead of acknowledging the AI. It was his ring. Mick had just given back his ring. He rolled it between his fingers. The inside was smooth and unmarked and Len didn't know what his heart was doing anymore

Sara eyed the piece of jewelry for a moment before grimacing. "I know you probably won't let Leonard out of your sight for a while," she told Lisa, "so I'll track down Mick, send him to the medbay and then try to distract the Wonder Nerds."

"Tell Mickey if he doesn't get there in three minutes, I'll gild his balls."

"Gladly."

"Always an angel. Hey," she grabbed Sara's arm just before she left, "remember what I promised. Anything you need me to do."

Sara smiled back, a little sad, and covered Lisa's hand with her own. Len could've sworn he saw their fingers lace together for a brief second. "I know. Thank you."

As Sara walked off, Len narrowed his eyes after her. He had the distinct feeling she and his sister were low key flirting right in front of him. "Care to explain what that was about?"

"Don't be jealous, Lenny," she said, not even bothering to see if he was following her to the medbay. "We just bonded over mutual sibling loss. Though we've got that halfway fixed, now."

Len straightened in shock. "Her sister is dead? When did this happen?"

"Some time during your mission through time. Don't worry, you have a _lot_ of catching up to do."

"I don't doubt it."

Rip was already waiting in the medbay when the siblings went in. Mick entered shortly after Gideon began the check up, obviously looking to hover by the door and escape the first chance he got. Unfortunately Lisa had already taken up post there, giving him a beautifully venomous smile that forced him closer to where Len sat.

"So," Len said conversationally, trying not to stare at Mick, "I suppose this is the part where you tell me how you pulled off this rescue. Feel free to skip the 'Ramon is a meta' segment, I already got that."

Rip scrubbed his hands together- he wasn't who Len wanted to hear this story from but Mick was clearly trying not to look directly at Len. "The Vanishing Point, I believe you know, exists outside of normal time. While Mr. Rory and myself were working for the Time Masters, we weren't given the exact details as to what that meant. As neither of us spent much time there, we didn't give it much thought until about a year ago."

Len stared. "You've been trying to get me back for a year?"

"That's how long it took to get all the information necessary to begin planning. For everything else- including realizing we _could_ get you back, it took some time longer." Rip paced around, his movements and posture less stiff than before, moving with the ease of someone who wasn't crushing himself under the weight of his own stress. But it was still quick and hurried, like he had a million things to do at any given second. Len supposed he was just a naturally antsy guy. "We went to the most pre-eminent chronologists in all recorded time, and between their knowledge and the information from the two of us and Gideon, we were able to discern the actual nature of the Vanishing Point."

Len turned to Mick abruptly, making him start, "Small words."

"'S a thing called the multi-verse. There's fifty-two major ones where the choices made were so drastic from ours that they broke off into completely alternate realities. All 'em have countless subsets where the choices made caused no real impacts on overall reality. 'S like the time pants from that book you read where the only difference between one sub-set and another is what you had for breakfast."

"Trousers of Time," Len corrected automatically.

"Whatever. Anyway, the Vanishing Point is where all those subsets for that universe converge."

"Then that Groundhog Day Loop...?"

"From what we gather," Rip looked sympathetic, "you were experiencing every iteration that ended up in that same position."

If that was true, Len ended up there a lot more than he had expected. But then if the sub-realities broke up from something as simple as different meal-choices, who knew how long he would've been stuck there. He swallowed hard and pretended he wasn't about to ask something potentially disturbing. "What would've happened if I ran out of iterations?"

"Then I imagine you'd no longer exist."

Len wrinkled his nose. "I can't imagine why you never got into counseling with such a subtlety." He considered the information he'd been given carefully. "You said it's been over a year since I started jumping these... subsets. I didn't go through enough loops for that, though."

"Part of the difficulty was every time you reached the end of your loop, it took some time for you to reappear in another subset. There was the additional problem of trying to figure out which one you arrived in. Gideon and Mr. Rathaway had to rescan each subset every time."

"That vibration feeling when Lisa first grabbed me..."

"Every subset exists on different frequencies," Lisa explained, "which means vibrating at different rates. We modified the Chronos suit to let me interact with things from other subsets while also keeping me out of synch enough no one could see me. Hartley also developed a little gizmo so I could expand the frequency to include you which basically pulled you back to our reality."

Len finally had to ask the question he'd been dreading since the conversation started. "How do I know I'm in the right reality or subset or whatever?"

"Len," Mick looked him in the eye, so very serious and honest that Len felt something raw in his chest, "even if the rest of us gave up at times, there isn't a reality in all the multi-verse where Lisa'd give up on you. She wouldn't stop until she knew we got the right version."

"Chronarch Senius of the Time Institute- very helpful chap," Rip told him, "came up with the theory that, given the Vanishing Point is a place of convergence, you were every version of you."

His heart leaped in his throat. "Wait, wouldn't other subsets be looking for me? Are all the other versions of me gone?" He thought back to the subset where he killed Mick. Where he killed _everyone_. The ones he and Mick had been married-

A hand rested on Len's shoulder, easing him back down. Mick's expression was calm and Len felt himself calming automatically in return. "According to the doc," Lisa said almost gently, "when I turned the frequency generator on, it pulled our version of you out of the collective you. So all the other yous are still there, waiting for their own amazing sister to save them." She smiled, reaching out stroke Len's hand before settling hers on top. "You know how picky I am. The only big brother I want is _mine_."

He gave a huff of laughter and turned his hand over so he could hold Lisa's. "To think I underestimated how spoiled you are. Sorry I doubted you, sis."

"You should be."

After a brief pause of silence Gideon announced the scan to be complete. "Mr. Snart's scans matches that of previous scans closely enough that it is 99.99% chance he is the correct version. Rounding up."

"Good enough for me," Len said, heaving himself upright. As he swung his legs over the side, he realized- "Are you serious?"

Lisa looked around, catching on right away. " _Mick_ " He somehow managed to sneak away without them noticing. "Lenny, I am going to punch that man in the throat, I swear to God."

His eyes narrowed, standing upright and finally feeling more like himself than he had in several dozen loops. "He's been surprisingly cagey..."

"I think he plans on leaving once we land in Central. Because he's a _jackass_." Lisa grabbed Len's hand again, this time digging her nails in. "You better not let him get away or I'll be punching _you_ in the throat, too."

He pried her claws out. "Believe me, I have no intention of letting that happen."

Len barely got three feet down the hall before he ran into Sara. He opened his mouth but she cut him off, "He went towards the cargo bay. Cisco and Hartley cleared out so he's probably gone down there to be depressing." Len opened his mouth again and again Sara cut him. "Believe me, none of us like when he does that so you better snap him out of it. He hasn't been much fun in months." Though her tone was blase, Len knew better than to take it at face value. Mick had never been prone to wallowing. If it was as bad as she was implying...

Well, good thing Len was there to stage an intervention.

Just as Len shifted to leave, Sara put her hand to his arm. "Leonard, before you talk to Mick, I think we need to talk about that kiss-"

"I'm not gonna be heartbroken if you found someone else since then," he teased. "It's been over a year for you, after all."

"And it just happened for you."

"You stopped kissing me somewhere around loop 20 when I got tired of putting in effort for something that would get me no return."

Sara's eyebrows jump, like she wasn't sure if she'd been insulted but was amused either way. "If I knew it meant so little, I wouldn't have wasted a kiss on you."

"It did mean something, at first," Len allowed with a shrug, "but after a while it wasn't quite what I was looking for."

Sara went from amused to smug. "What you're looking for wouldn't happen to be tall, brooding and bald, would it?"

His smirk was just this short of lewd. "Could you blame me?"

This time Sara didn't join in the game. "You are going to talk to him, right? I mean _really_ talk to him? Mick was a wreck after the explosion. And when Cisco said you were alive he kept swinging from one extreme to the other. One minute he was gungho about saving you, the next trying to destroy everything because he claimed there was no way to get you back."

Len snorted, looking away. "Sounds like Mick." The flippancy didn't make it into his words. "He was never good with balance."

"It wasn't because he gave up, it was because he hoped so much and we kept hitting roadblocks. I know you know as well as I do what that kind of hope can do to someone." She wrapped her arms around herself, looking very much how Len was feeling as he thought about Mick and hope and about the way it would've slowly killed him. "People like us don't hope like that. We just cut our losses and do our best to move on and every time Mick tried, something happened to dangle it right in front of him again." She smiled, suddenly, eyes distant and focusing on a faraway memory. "Your sister though, she was amazing. She let nothing get her down, kept everyone on task and organized, reeled Mick in when he got out of hand. And the way she directed to Rogues..."

"The Rogues were involved?"

"There was a museum heist in 27th century Central with a bunch of speedster robot patrols. I tell you, Lisa's got a mind like bear trap that doubles as a filing cabinet. You should've seen the way she repeatedly undermined Rip- you would've been so proud."

Len grinned, broad and bright and real. "I'm always proud of her." His eyes suddenly narrowed, "You and her aren't..."

Sara smiled enigmatically, "Do you have room to be jealous when you have a partner to get back together with?"

He scrutinized that entirely-too-amused expression, unable to tell if she was yanking his chain or not. Len decided he'd get to the bottom of it later. "I'm keeping my eye on you two."

"Hopefully not when the door is closed!"

Len took the time to shudder before stalking off.

True to Sara's word, Mick was in the cargo hold, cleaning his heat gun. It had become something of a quirk of Mick's, messing with it when he was upset a bout something. Len stood in the stairway for a moment, just watching him. Memorizing the curve of his spine, the flex of his forearms, the intensity of his focus. Even if that intensity was partly due to trying to pretend Len wasn't there.

"So how long have you been waiting for me to leave you?" There was probably a better way to broach the subject but for all his lying and sideways dealing, Len appreciated straightforwardness. He appreciated that he could always be straightforward with Mick.

The older man just shrugged like it was no big deal. Like his jaw hadn't clenched at the question. "Every day."

Len expected something like that but it still hurt. "Why?"

Mick set down his gun and the bore brush, turning to him with eyes hard and full of the self-loathing Len sometimes forgot he carried because Mick was so good at fooling himself into forgetting it was there. "Why do you think?"

Len's memory skittered back to four years ago, eight, eleven, all the times they split up for whatever reason. Mostly due to Mick's destructive tendencies getting beyond Len's ability to redirect. Every time Len noticed Mick never really fought to make Len stay, never tried to defend himself. All those times it was more than just Mick being aware of his issues, it was, to Mick, the inevitable coming to pass. Then he thought about all the moments they got back together, Mick barely needing to be persuaded. Mick may have thought it inevitable but that didn't mean he wanted it to happen.

"You know I never thought I was better than you," Len said slowly.

"Yeah, well what you think and what's true don't always match up."

"So who should I leave you for? Sara?"

The corners of Mick's mouth tightened but he tried to play it off with a shrug. "Why not? You like her and she's awesome at everything."

"I'm pretty sure if I stole someone else out from under her, Lisa would kill me." Mick looked so flummoxed Len actually chuckled. "Remind me later to tell you about her week long crush on you during the summer of '96. The point is, I'm not interested in her that way and Canary is more hero than criminal."

"You got more hero in you than you'd like to pretend. 'Sides, there's plenty other people to choose from."

"So let's say I take your suggestion," Len drawled, trying to cover up the note of growing frustration beginning to edge into an annoyed anger. "Decide to get myself a new partner. What'll you do?"

Mick tried to look like he didn't know what Len was getting at, like he wasn't being deliberately obtuse. "Central's your city. I'd go somewhere else."

"Like where?"

"Midway. Hub City. Always something going on in New York."

"And just what would you do in these places?"

He shrugged. "What I'm good at. Makin' money hurting people."

"Seems to be an awful lot of vagueness in these answers."

Mick glared. Unfortunately Len knew him too well to recognize when it lacked heat. "Wouldn't really be your business anymore."

Len pushed from the wall, sauntering over until he was just within arm's reach of Mick. The closest they'd been in a while. "You know I like knowing how things pan out for all sides before I make a deal."

"What happens to me after doesn't matter."

He dropped his chin, pinning Mick with a hard look through his lashes. "Given it matters to me- and I know you know that -I can't help but infer you actually mean it doesn't matter to _you_." Mick looked away. Len's jaw clenched. "So if I leave, you'll lose the will to live."

The larger man rolled his eyes. "I ain't gonna turn suicidal."

"No, you just won't care if you live or die. Not much of a difference in my point of view."

Mick scrubbed a hand over his face, still unable to look directly at his former partner. "Look, Snart- Len. You were always gonna be great. I knew that since we were kids and I thought I could get in on that for a bit. Get a glimpse of what it's like being on top of the world. But I'm holding you back. Always did even if I didn't wanna admit it to myself."

"And we're just going to conveniently forget all the times you saved my ass? Or knocked the stupid out of me? Or took care of me when I got too stuck in my own head?"

"Anyone could do that."

"I don't want just anyone in my space, I want _you_."

Mick's shoulders stiffened and his jaw twitched and for a moment Len thought he'd gotten through. But then he narrowed his eyes and bulled through, "You only think you do because you're soft-hearted. You don't actually want me, it's just 'cause you got me trained already. I've always caused you problems. I might call you a flight risk, but _I'm_ what keeps driving you away. Hell, I did it on this trip and all the things with Chronos-"

"If you try to tell me you're broken," Len snapped harshly, "I will have Lisa sit on you and tell you what she thinks about your tragic fucking life. You were never a placeholder, Mick, you're _mine_. I went through fuck knows how many iterations of the end of time and I _still_ say you're mine so you better learn to deal with it because this isn't something you'll be able to out-stubborn me on." Len stalked in close, forcing Mick to look at him. "The only way I'll let you go is if you want to leave. Not because you feel like martyring yourself on my behalf, but because you don't want anything to do with me. So tell me. Right now. Do you want to leave?"

Mick looked absolutely ruined. He'd never been good at being objective, was never able to craft the armor needed to protect himself from his own emotions and not even the Time Masters could carve out that part of him that burned emotions like a fuel source. "Lenny..." his voice was quiet and cracked and it was all Len needed to hear before he took that last step, pulling Mick against him and kissing him hard.

"You and me, partner," he said against Mick's lips.

Mick's hands held tight to Len's waist, like something might take him away again, just breathing him in. "You and me."

**Author's Note:**

> I had this idea three months ago, wanting to do it before the start of the new season so of course I didn't actually start working on it until last week. Special thanks to nirejseki for reassuring me it's not crap while I was going cross-eyed.
> 
> Title comes from a line from Groundhog Day. The date inscribed in Mick's wedding ring is the month/issue number where the Rogues first formed. I would've used the issue Mick and Len first worked together but that was actually Mick's first appearance and I use that date for his birthday.


End file.
